AIBU to think lido’s should be allowed to open

[billybagpuss]

Swimming pools inside and out have no indication as to when they can open, but I do think lidos should be allowed my reasons are:

The pools are chlorinated which kills the virus.

With the warm weather people are turning to wild swimming, every year they run scaremongering campaigns about how unsafe this is when they should be running campaigns of how to stay safe (cold water shock awareness, don’t drink alcohol etc) this year, nothing, there have already been deaths from people unaware of the risks.

It’s no different to the sunbathing in parks rule to social distance

It wouldn’t be too hard to implement a cleaning regime of toilets and changing rooms

Most lidos have been rescued by enthusiasts and loosing an entire season income will be devastating

And from a personal point of view I went to my wild swim spot that has always been empty and it was heaving, so I couldn’t swim.

I guess they would have to open with substantially reduced entry numbers though, as they would be so packed otherwise. But they would need more staff for cleaning etc. So I guess whether it would help the Lido's financially or not is a tough one to judge.

However, I totally agree with your point about wild swimming. Our local river is packed with people who have rushed out to buy kayaks and SUPs and it just isn't safe for wild swimming this year, we saw some horrible near misses when we were on the water.

It’s a shame as the weather has been so nice for weeks and I know our local lido struggles financially as many do. This would have been a good year for them.

Our local lake is open. We turn up ready to swim. No changing rooms. I think there is a toilet open there.

I think that Lidos could open but keep changing rooms closed. So you turn up ready to swim or change by the pool. The toilets would be risky but keep cleaning them? And yes reduce numbers. People could book an hour session throughout the day?

Yes. Lower numbers admitted but open, definitely.

Even on half numbers and limiting time slots our lido would have a good turnover, I think people would even be happy if they left it unseated for the season to reduce costs.

I’d also be happy to arrive suited and ready and drive home in my dry robe.

I'm in Germany and in my area lidos have opened up. They are operating an online advance booking system where you have to turn up at a designated time and have 2 hours or so I believe to spread out the masses.

I love the lidos in Germany, you have some awesome pools. I was supposed to be going to Berlin this month Primarily to meet a friend but her local lido was high in my list too 😊

My son and I were just talking about this as he is a qualified pool lifeguard and did his qualification at our local lido. He says that it was packed when he did his assessment and they get about 3000 people there. If you reduced the numbers and had advanced booking I guess it would not be viable to open, and it's probably cheaper for the operators to stay closed and keep their staff on furlough (one of the downsides of furlough).

It does seem a bit silly though - surely being outside is far less risky than being in a moist overheated indoor swimming pool environment.

Timeslots might work actually. We always used to go for several hours so if they reduced it to time slots I could see that might work

I think the usual limit is 2000 in our lido, it’s a massive 50m pool in brilliant grounds and people do stay all day so you could easily get the same footfall by limiting time slots.